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Kings Announce 2011-12 Regular Season Schedule

by
Staff Writer
/ Los Angeles Kings

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Kings will open the 2011-12 NHL season with four games away from STAPLES Center – including two games in Europe – before hosting the St. Louis Blues at STAPLES Center on Tuesday, October 18, at 7:30 p.m. as part of Opening Night festivities, the Kings and the NHL announced today.

The Kings, as announced in April, will open the 2011-12 regular season in Europe with one game in Germany and one game in Sweden. The games are part of 2011 Compuware NHL Premiere™ and NHL Face-Off™ as the Kings are among four NHL clubs traveling overseas.

On Friday, October 7, the Kings will play the New York Rangers at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. The next day, Saturday, October 8, the Kings and the Buffalo Sabres will play each other at O2 World Arena in Berlin, Germany. The Kings are the designated “home team” for both games.

The Kings will then travel from Berlin to the East Coast where they have a two-game road trip – at New Jersey on October 13 and at Philadelphia on October 15.

The Kings play 11 games in October including three games at STAPLES Center in October, beginning with the home opener on October 18. The Kings also host Dallas (Oct. 22) and New Jersey (Oct. 25).

In November the Kings play a season-high nine games in their home arena, highlighted by visits featuring the Pittsburgh Penguins (Nov. 5), the Stanley Cup runner-up Vancouver Canucks (Nov. 10), the Ducks (Nov. 16), the Detroit Red Wings (Nov. 19), the Chicago Blackhawks (Nov. 26), and the San Jose Sharks (Nov. 28) in a rematch of last year’s first-round playoff match-up.

In December, the Kings play at the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins on Dec. 13 to kick-off a four game road trip that concludes in Toronto (Dec. 19). The Kings also that month make their first visit to Winnipeg since the 1995-96 season and on Dec. 31, New Year’s Eve, the Kings play host to Vancouver beginning at 7 p.m.

The month of January features eight of the club’s 11 games at STAPLES Center, including the first five games of the month as part of the Kings’ season-high six game homestand (Dec. 31 – Jan. 12), which is highlighted by a visit by the Washington Capitals on Jan. 9. The NHL All-Star Game, to be held this year in Ottawa, takes place the end of January.

February features a season-high six-game road trip from Feb. 3–12, a trip that finishes with back-to-back contests in New York (Islanders) and Dallas, while March features six home games including games against the rival Ducks (March 3), Red Wings (March 13), Sharks (March 20) and the Cup-winning Bruins (March 24). The Kings also in March make their third and final regular season visit to Honda Center.

The regular season concludes with three games in April, including a home-and-home series against San Jose (April 5 versus SJ – Fan Appreciation Night; April 7 at SJ to conclude the 2011-12 regular season).

The Kings preseason schedule was announced on Tuesday. It consists of seven games plus one special exhibition contest in Hamburg, Germany, on October 4 against the Hamburg Freezers of the German Elite League. From there the Kings will travel to Stockholm to face the Rangers.